Critical Perspectives| Moving Image & Contextual Studies : PSYCHOANALYSIS

What is psychoanalysis?
A theory developed by Sigmund Freud used as an analytic tool that reveals meaning/hidden intent of behavior.

Having done a lot of research and practice with patients, Freud came to the conclusion that the mind is made up of three subdivisions. The conscious, the preconscious, and the unconscious mind.

The conscious mind : This level of mind consists of everything we are mentally aware of. This aspect of our mind allows us to think and talk about things in a rational manner, a part of this aspects consists of our memory, which isn't constantly a part of our consciousness. However, we can draw upon information at any give time and pull that into our awareness. Freud referred to this as the preconscious mind.

The preconscious mind: This part of the mind of the mind represents our normal memory. We are never fully (consciously) mindful of all the information at any given time, but can retrieve information and deposit it into our consciousness when needed.

The unconscious mind: This part of the mind is a bank of emotions, memories, urges, desires, thoughts and memories that exist outside of our consciousness (awareness). According to Freud, a lot of the content stored up in this part of the mind can be considered distasteful or indecent for example, pain, and conflict, sexual preferences or desires etc. This aspect of the mind contributes a lot towards human behavior and experiences and we are never aware of these influences as they stem from the unconscious.

Above, is an image of an iceberg which Freud used to explain his theory of the three levels of mind. The part of the iceberg that rests above the water is labelled the conscious the rest, submerged into the water is referred to as the preconscious and unconscious part of the mind (unconscious mostly). Each part of the mind can be likened to one or more of the three basic forms of personality 
discovered by Freud and termed as:

ID (Only component present from birth and the prime component of personality):

This part of the personality is driven by the pleasure principle. It is far from rational where thinking and processing is concerned. It's aim is to attain gratification or satisfaction of the urges or desires and if this isn't achieved, the individual is driven into a state of tension and anxiety. This part of the mind contributes a lot to unnecessary and unpleasant behavior. If we all thought with this part of our mind, the world would be driven into chaos. 

EGO (Component of personality that deals with reality):
This aspect of our personality acts as a mediator between the ID and SUPEREGO and deals with reality and presenting the feelings and desires of the unconscious mind in a way that isn't detrimental to civilization. This part of the mind functions on the reality principle hence allowing the desires of the id to be met in a realistic and socially appropriate manner. This aspect of the mind allows you to weigh or balance the pros and cons of a situation before disregarding or acting up on any impulses generated by the ID. 

SUPEREGO (Component of personality that holds our sense of right and wrong):
This aspect of personality can be referred to as a conscience. It is the part of us that welcomes the morals we have acquired from the home (mother and father) and other experiences in society and provides guidelines that help one in making judgments.  There are two parts to the superego, the first being the ego ideal. The ego Ideal consists of everything we view right/good morally in society where behavior is concerned. A typical example is perhaps making your bed in the morning, hence the mother would be pleased. On the other hand, we have the conscience which consists of all things viewed as wrong/bad morally in society where behavior in concerned. On most occasions, behavior judged in this category tends to be displeasing to parents unlike the ego ideal. 

This structure of personality can be seen in various organisations/structures in society. One of the most popular examples discovered by Freud was family. The father takes the role of the Superego as he plays the head of the home hence deciding the rules and regulations and what will and won't be accepted in the household. The child  or children, take form of the id as they'll do whatever is possible to ensure their desires/wants are met. The mother (ego) acts as a mediator between the father (superego) and child (id) allowing everyone to come to a compromise that suits the needs of all the people in the home. Another less personal example would be the jurisdiction system here in the united kingdom. The Judge (superego) makes the overall decision as to whether or not the deviant (id) is to be found guilty of the charges against them. The Jury take form of the ego as they generally display their opinion helping the superego come to a final decision on offence and sentencing. 

Critical Perspectives| Moving Image & Contextual Studies: SEMIOTICS

What is Semiotics?

Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols and their relation, use and interpretation. Often when we think of signs we think of sign posts and pictures but where semiotics is concerned, signs have various constituents like body language, words, imagery, sound and context which combine together to form a visual language. This visual language helps us to understand something when we draw upon knowledge acquired through personal and cultural experiences. Hence, semiotics is considered a form of communication as a message is sent, perceived, interpreted and understood.

What is a Sign? 
A sign is a stimulus pattern with a meaning behind it. Those that discovered the theory differentiated three sign types: Iconic, Index,and Symbol.The difference between the three sign types mentioned above is the method through which the meaning is associated with the pattern. The three sign types are tools for analysing the core of semiotics.

ICONIC: This sign type physically conveys its meaning/resembles what it represents. A good example of this sign are the male and female toilet signs. However, the iconic form doesn't relate only to imagery. For instance, a dog can proceed to jump on you and you will raise your hand to counter the jump which may seem to have hindered the dog from doing so. When this action is done repeatedly, the dog begins to associate that action with 'You can't sit here.' From then on, whenever a palm is raised the dog will do the exact opposite and sit still.

INDEX: This sign type is an indication to a state of affair and is processed by our sensory features i.e. smell, taste, sight etc. This sign type tends to be connected with the object/meaning in a realistic way. An index is often referred to as a part torn away from the object, which is why one is able to understand the sign with the knowledge they've acquired in culture and experience. Indexical signs focus your attention in a definite time and place. e.g. Smoke bellowing from a house outside your window indicates that there is a fire within. When watching the weather forecast animations of rain and wind will indicate bad weather.

SYMBOL: This sign type bears no recognizable physical resemblance to what it represents/signifies and bears no logical meaning with the object concerned. The relation between the signifier and the signified is strictly conventional and culturally precise. The most common symbol today is the heart which culturally represents love. It resembles the human heart in no manner whatsoever, even though it partially represents a feeling developed from it. We are able to understand this sign because it has been symbolised in society as a semblance of love since the fifteenth century. Symbols vary from the other two signs as the meaning isn't always the same for everyone. Symbols are left open to interpretation based on opinion or personal preference. An example of this is the ancient symbol named swastika which originated from religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Originally the swastika (meaning: ''it is good'' or ''auspicious'') was a symbol that represented peace in the earlier centuries among these Indian religions. Years later in 1933, the symbol was adopted by the Adolf Hitler, (leader of the Nazi Party) and became the semblance of their Fascist Regime. After the second world war, the swastika acquired connotations of Antisemitism, violence, injustice, mass killings, and other Nazi related concepts in many westernized countries. Hence, the swastika is strongly disapproved of and has been outlawed in Germany and other European countries.

Semiotics and Film
The main component of story-telling is creating a clear and concise message that can be referred to as the 'moral' of the story. Semiotics makes this possible as it's a tool that allows one to tell stories through images that are transmitted to the audience. There are many elements a director can use that can understate or actively enhance the meaning of a sequence such as lighting, cultural context, juxtaposition of shots/scenes etc. For example, perhaps a sequence starts with a blank expression on the face of a woman, cuts to an appealing banquet of European food, and then back to the person's face. If you separated the scenes and viewed them individually they wouldn't express any message meaning to the audience. However, the combination of shots express hunger - or a desire for food.

Story Telling Unit: Soft Trailer Remake by C.Anderson & S.Laniyan

PLOT: Written and Directed by Simon Ellis, Soft is the tale of a fragmented relationship between father and son when confronted by a group of rebellious teens in the comfort of their own home.

TASK: We had previously watched the film in a lecture and explored the themes expressed in the film and how well they were captured visually. Having done so, we were asked to go back and re-watch the film and select clips adequate enough to make a one minute trailer that sells our perception of the story. The task was a great exercise for us considering that we ourselves have a ten minute screenplay to write and two minutes to produce visually. In this trailer, Colleen and I were focusing more on the relationship between the father and the son as opposed to the overbearing presence of the antagonist. We felt it was best to start the trailer off in a way that gives you an idea of the main character. The father is a very controlled man, everything he does from his movement, to the way he parks his car and greets his neighbors is concise to the very last detail. So being in a wide and open space with the villains emphasizes the fact that this man isn't in his comfort zone. It also enhances the presence of the villains as we see how quiet and relaxed the area is until he comes into contact with people entirely foreign to the quiet neighborhood.

When we had a show-reel of all the trailers made we were able to view other students' perception of the story and it was nice to see various interpretations of the same film. Personally, I feel the exercise helped us to open our minds to different things rather than being narrow and small minded in our vision and understanding where film and script-writing is concerned. In general we received good feedback which I'm happy with. The two key problems with our piece was the addition of a heartbeat effect as it didn't sync well with the visuals and music, and the fact that we were six seconds over the allocated time. However, there's a first time for everything. It was also a great opportunity to catch up on final cut pro.

Story Telling Unit: It's Not You, It's Me. (Short film directed and written by Matt Spicer)

The film was successful in staying true to it's genre - one which is quite hard to nail successfully. When I first watched it, I didn't know what to expect. The use of the sound effects to emphasise the irritating noises worked well with the visuals and were in sync. It was equally as irritating for the audience as it is for the main character. Gillian Jacobs did a very good job. She really sold the emotions of fictional person to me and I was able to relate to it. Suddenly I remembered how disgusting it is when my sister chews her food with her mouth open. What I love most about the piece is that the humour isn't apparent until it takes a turn towards the dark-side and to me that's what makes this piece fantastic. To think that it can be humorous, sadistic, and horrifying all at the same time is incredible. I didn't start laughing until I saw two suitcases seated in the back of a jeep being driven by an easily irritable woman and shortly afterwards four buried in the sand.  Despite laughing at the scene, I was still taken aback emotionally at the depth of the situation. To think that it started from an accidental death and led into a series of intended deaths is just great!

Story Telling Unit: Idea Development

Having brainstormed my ideas it was time to develop them into a concise plan for me to follow when writing the screen play. I had mapped out a lot of ideas and having gone through them all  decided the story of a successful business man and broken woman would be the most powerful mentally and visually intriguing. Below is my original idea development plan sheet. As you can see from the image below it, I've made a lot of changes to my original plan along the way. After thinking about the practicality of the scenes in terms of writing and the shoot, expenses and casting I decided that the idea needed a bit of mending to suit my requirements and also, the message I wanted to pass across wasn't really apparent in my first development sheet. With my storyline I hope to explore themes like Social and financial difference, Heirarchy, Racism, Gender divide, and Stereotypes.
The development sheet was really helpful because it helped me to string together all these individual ideas and concepts I had that have now made what I will call my ten minute screenplay. It also helped me to develop the individual stories and outcome of my characters.

Characters:
My characters have a lot of depth individually and will be perceived to be their own villains. So in Regards to the problems they face in the story, a majority of them stem from their fixed view on life and the people surrounding them. Clyde is a smart and successful business man with over ten thriving businesses that make life financially comfortable for him. However, emotionally he's got it all wrong. He has withdrawal symptoms where people are concerned. He doesn't associate himself with those below his social status. And even those that match up to him he  shuns aside. Yet he finds himself in love with a poor and damaged woman. He's a selfish and self conceited man who feels the world must bend at his every whim, or need. On the other hand, Rowena is a broken woman carrying a lot of baggage from hardships she's faced over time. She prostitutes for a living to make ends meet and is a coke addict. The drugs for her are an escape from her harsh reality. She never allows herself to feel good about something because of the past she has lived and when she met a man 'clyde' who showed her love and affection she couldn't react in the way she'd wanted because she'd never been subject to such compassion and also felt she didn't deserve him.

The idea of these two people, broken in so many different ways and from very different social backgrounds, coming together is what will make this story. In this day and age, a lot of people have a very materialistic view where love is concerned and forget that it thrives solely on the souls of people and not designer bags or a dozen roses. They've also forgotten that love knows no boundaries, discrimination, hate or fear and for that reason Clyde and Rowena will end up together. It's unfortunate that this perception of love is seen as unreal when this is how it should be and that is why I'm aiming to make the characters as real as possible; because there are people out there that can relate to either one of them.

The pitch:
Clyde is a successful and selfish businessman in love with Rowena, a young prostitute struggling to make ends meet. Will his pride, and her broken soul ruin a potentially happy ending?